F1 Live: Qualifying for the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

It's time for the very last qualifying session of 2021. On Saturday afternoon the qualifying session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is scheduled, in which Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton will want to take the first step towards the title.

Liveblog | Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

In the first free practice, it was Max Verstappen who clocked the fastest time, but in FP2 he had to let his title rival Lewis Hamilton ahead. Mercedes are looking strong, but they and Verstappen may not be getting the most out of it yet. In this session, Mercedes will install Hamilton's 'spicy' engine that completed races in Brazil and Saudi Arabia. This is expected to give them a performance advantage, but Christian Horner suggested that Red Bull will be able to find lap time elsewhere.

On Friday, Verstappen's long-run pace looked positive for the Dutchman. He ran much of his long run stint on the soft tyre, meaning Red Bull could be looking at an aggressive two-stop race around the Yas Marina. It could be possible that Verstappen wants to start on the softs to get a good start off the line on the run down to turn one. 

Yas Marina revised for 2021

At the renewed Yas Marina Circuit the drivers will fight for pole position one more time in 2021. Verstappen already holds the title for the most pole positions this season but will be more than happy to add another one to his tally ahead of Sunday's race.

In previous years, Yas Marina has always been a Mercedes circuit. The team has won all but one race in Abu Dhabi since 2014. Last year it was in fact Verstappen who was fastest and also took pole position. This year, however, the circuit has changed considerably. Many slower corners have been removed and replaced with faster ones. This seems to be to the advantage of Mercedes.